hanahaki (or: two birds/one poem)

queer-with-a-pen

1. 

there is a rotten smell

permeating this particular instance

of public transit

and i wonder if it is me

 

is this the aftermath of

what i never coughed up for you

in the midst of my unrequited love?

 

it wouldn’t be flowers for you, though

i think clovers would have been more fitting

like the one that you gave me

hand-crafted pendant on a leather cord

 

and i really have to be more careful

with my heart, don’t i?

all these pretty things i can write about love

can’t hold a candle to the real, reciprocated thing

 

and i realize now it was unfair of me

to ask of you something you could not give

but i love you just the same

albeit it with less heartache and tears

 

2. 

 that rot must be coming from me

and the roses

pink like the sunset and downy soft

i planted between my ribs for you

 

did you see that garden?

how i tried to give you everything i had

the way i allowed you to take and take

and asked for little in return?

 

but what is a garden

when it is trapped behind towering walls

with no one to see the way all those flowers shine,

and what a lonely thing that is

 

i choked myself on roses for you

and that wasn’t enough

was i not enough?

hard not to feel like it, if you must know

 

but i have better things to do

than make my throat bleed

with all these words and love

with nowhere to go

 

i think it’s time that i plant

some flowers for myself

no more roses or clovers

but maybe dandelions this time

  • Author: Boaz Priestly (Pseudonym) (Offline Offline)
  • Published: March 11th, 2020 00:39
  • Comment from author about the poem: Hanahaki: a fictional disease in which the victim coughs up flower petals when they suffer from one-sided love
  • Category: Letter
  • Views: 18
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Comments +

Comments1

  • Saxon Crow

    Love this Poem QWP. Especially the line and the roses, pink like the sunset and downy soft i planted between my ribs for you. Brilliant



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